


Naptime

by MommyMaleficent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Gen, Mommy Snow, Napping, Non-Sexual Age Play, baby bottles, little Emma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 23:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14007372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MommyMaleficent/pseuds/MommyMaleficent
Summary: They make the most of it.





	Naptime

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I disappeared last month... school kind of... ate me. Oops. I'll probably write something and scooch it on back to a date in February.

It all began when Emma decided to take a nap one day.

She felt like she was slamming into the brick wall, she said, and with the way she was mulling over the papers and notebooks at the kitchen table, Snow could hardly blame her.

“Go rest up,” said Snow, rubbing Emma’s shoulders lovingly, “I’ll wake you up in an hour or so and you can continue then, okay?”

Emma smiled. “Yeah. Please. Thanks.”

And off she went upstairs to bed while Snow set her kitchen timer for the hour she promised. She went about skimming the documents her daughter left sprawled out on the kitchen table and sighed at them. No wonder Emma needed a break.

When the hour was up, Snow went upstairs, shook a drowsy Emma awake, and came back down when she sat up and stretched like morning.

And the rest was history, really.

Every day after, at the exact same time, Emma dropped whatever she was doing to let her mom know she was going upstairs to take a nap. And every day, Snow would smile and set her timer, and assure Emma she would be promptly roused when the time came. It became their thing.

Sometimes, Snow would peek into Emma’s room when she left the door ajar, and what she saw always filled her heart with so much love, she was certain it was going to burst.

There were days where a sleepy Emma would have her thumb in her mouth and look so peaceful sucking on it as she dozed off, Snow hadn’t the heart to call attention to it lest she risked upsetting her. Other times, Emma had her baby blanket in her arms. She hugged it, smelling the corners, wrapping it around herself like a shawl. Other times still, she had some random stuffed animal she got from who could say where clutched tight to her.

Emma’s naps gradually became longer and longer until they were a full two hours of midday sleep. No one minded. Sometimes she woke up cranky, but despite her foul mood, Emma was careful not to give her parents any lip.

One afternoon, however, when it came time for Snow to wake up Emma at her now usual 3:00, she found her daughter with her teddy tucked in one arm, her bunched-up blankie under the nape of her neck and folded around her neck like a scarf, and her thumb in her mouth all at the same time.

Must’ve been a particularly trying day, thought Snow as she took a seat at the edge of the bed. She placed a soft hand on Emma’s shoulder and gave a little shake. “Emma, sweetheart, it’s time to wake up.”

“Mmmnh...” was the groggy, indignant response. Emma scrunched up her face and rolled over so she couldn’t see Snow or anything even if she opened her eyes. All she would see and feel was the heat of her pillow. She clutched her teddy tighter, taking her thumb out of her mouth to do so.

Snow chuckled. It was kind of cute. “Come on, baby,” she tried again, rubbing Emma’s back. “You’ve slept for two hours now. It’s time to wake up.”

“Noooo...!” Emma whined, shifting slightly so it wasn’t so stifling to speak. She let out a sob and curled into herself. “Don’t waa-aanna...”

Snow sighed. It wasn’t one of content or even annoyance, but it was enough for Emma to jolt up suddenly, her face red, green eyes widened as she scanned Snow’s face for something that definitely wasn’t there.

“I-I... Sorry. That, that was... sorry...” she mumbled, hanging her head. She wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands and sniffled. “I just...” She gave her teddy a squeeze as she peered up into her mother’s eyes. “Let me sleep a little longer... Please, Mom?”

What a brave little girl she was.

Snow watched Emma calmly, a small smile on her gentle face. She caressed her daughter’s cheek and wiped the rest of her tears, picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. And Emma watched her in return, trying not to let Snow see her chin quiver, nor her eyes water.

Her daughter still stared with wide, hopeful eyes as Snow White rose from her seat at the edge of her bed and planted a long, soft, kiss to her forehead, an unspoken code.

“I’ll let you go back to sleep in a moment, if you’ll let me show you a little something first.” Snow winked. “This won’t take long, I promise.”

Emma sniffled, wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her other arm, and nodded.

“Okay,” she croaked.

Snow walked briskly out the room then. She went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard where, in the very back, certainly not where Emma could’ve seen despite looking into the cupboard daily, she pulled out an adult-sized baby bottle. She smiled at it fondly, stroking the animal’s head that functioned as the top and teat before uncapping it.

When Snow finally went back upstairs, Emma was just barely holding on. She’d sank back into her pillows and blankets and the only way Snow knew she was still awake was the faint—very faint—fluttering of her lashes. Her cheeks were streaked with tear tracks, poor thing.

“Baby?”

Emma jolted awake at the word. She bit her lip when she noticed Snow holding something behind her back. “Yeah?”

“I went out shopping the other day,” began Snow, “and when I saw this, I immediately thought of you.” As she neared the bed, Emma moved to sit up. Snow sat down. “You know, back at the palace, you were gifted a little unicorn mobile from Cinderella and Thomas. It broke my heart you never got to use it, but this, if you want, you can use when you like.”

Emma tilted her head and furrowed her brow. Snow knew she had her daughter’s attention then, and from her back she drew out the bottle. It was filled to the brim with warm milk, a unicorn’s candy-colored mane and white head at the top, its yellow horn the nipple.

Emma gasped. She dropped her teddy to hide her mouth with her hands as she looked repeatedly from her mother’s face to what she offered.

“Really?” she squeaked when she finally found her voice. She was already starting to cry again, from embarrassment or joy Snow didn’t know but hoped was the latter.

Either way, seeing those tears was more than enough of a reason to put her gift to use. After all, her baby couldn’t cry when she was drinking her milk.

She gave Emma the bottle to hold with both hands and guided it to her parted lips. When she was sure Emma’s grip was strong enough that she wasn’t going to drop it, Snow circled Emma’s bed and invited herself in on the other side, under the covers. She wrapped her arm around Emma’s shoulder while her daughter watched her move about, sniffling, weakly gnawing the nipple of her new bottle.

They locked eyes, wide wet green to calm hazel, and Snow smiled her brightest for her Emma. “I love you, Emma,” she said, “My little girl... my precious princess... my beautiful, wonderful baby angel. Mommy loves you lots, and she always will.”

Snow tipped the bottle upward to encourage Emma to drink her milk, and drink Emma did. Emma suckled loudly, leaning against her mommy, staring deep into her eyes.

Midway through though, Emma lowered her gaze, and the bottle, to her lap. Her lip began to quiver again, much more than last time. She took one final look at Snow before bursting into tears and burying her face into her mommy’s shoulder. Shifting slightly, Snow placed the half-empty bottle on the bedside table behind her, moved Emma’s legs over her own, and wrapped her arms around Emma’s shaking shoulders. She even used a hand to cradle Emma’s head, as Charming was wont to do each and every time he hugged their daughter. She could understand, now more than ever, why he did so.

“I’m here, baby. Mommy’s here, Emma, sshhh...” she murmured into Emma’s blonde hair, “Mommy loves Emma no matter what, I promise.”

Emma cried for a good two minutes before her sobs lessened. She sniffled lots and again wiped her face with the backs of her hands.

“Hold me more please, Mommy?” she whispered, “Don’t go?”

“Mommy’s here,” Snow repeated, giving Emma’s shoulder a soft squeeze, “I’ll stay, little one, no worries. Do you want your ba-ba?”

Emma shook her head.

“Would you like to sleep some more?”

Emma nodded. Wrapping her warm arms around her mommy’s neck, Emma guided them both downwards. She clung to her with fervor, and Snow acquiesced to her want, alternating between patting and rubbing her baby’s back, noting with relief Emma’s sniffles were subsiding and her tears almost gone completely.

“Mommy?”

“Hm?”

“Love you.”

Snow smiled and kissed Emma’s forehead after brushing away her hair. “I love you too, baby.”

“Always?”

“Always.”

And they both closed their eyes and slept for an hour until Daddy Charming came home from work.


End file.
